This article was co-authored by Natalia S. David, Psy.D.. Dr. David is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She received her PsyD from Alliant International University in 2017.

There are 23 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

Everyone engages in learning each day, but are you learning at your maximum potential? The way that we understand, store, and retrieve knowledge impacts all areas of our lives from grocery shopping to job performance. It is worth putting forth the effort to improve. You can enhance your learning speed by mastering memory techniques and challenging your mind. Being physically prepared for knowledge is important as well.

Steps

Method1

Compressing and Visualizing Knowledge

1

Identify your learning style. By determining your learning style, you can determine the best techniques to help you retain information more effectively. Many people have multiple learning styles while some people may just have one dominant style. Figure out which style works best for you.[1]

Auditory learners pick up information by listening to it. Lectures, podcasts, discussion groups, and videos may work best for you.

Visual learners gain new information by watching it. Charts, diagrams, pictures, films, and written material is most beneficial for these types.

Kinesthetic learners adopt new practices by doing them. Participation in an activity, such as a science lab, discussion group, or hands-on class, may help you learn more effectively.

2

Use mnemonic devices. These are quick tricks designed to increase the amount of information that your brain can remember. They work by getting you to organize information into memorable patterns. The song “I can sing a rainbow” is one example; it is used to remember color names.[2]

If you need to recall a set of numbers, break them down in sections containing three numbers each and memorize the sequence. This is called “chunking” and is one reason why social security numbers and telephone numbers are broken up into groups.

Recall a set of letters by creating an acronym. This is a word formed out of the first letters in a word or phrase. For example, musicians looking to remember the bass staff note order ACEG could memorize the phrase, “All Cows Eat Grass.”

Keep tricky pieces of information in your mind via rhyming. For a college history exam, “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred and ninety-two.”

3

Study with images. Transform written information or numbers lists into visuals, such as a chart, graph, or map. Creating images like these increases your mind's flexibility which, in turn, helps with its ability to remember new information. Don’t worry if the final product isn’t perfect; assigning images is a very individual thing.[3]

Associate a person’s name with a particular image, such as Robin with a bird. Or, when you meet Brad, picture him alongside the famous Brad Pitt. The visuals do not have to be similar for the memory to stick in your mind.

Learn the mobile numbers of all your friends by making a mental picture of every number (0-9). Think of a pencil for 1; for 2, think of the head of the duck and so forth. After keeping a picture in your mind for every number, develop a story based on those pictures. Make sure the sequence is not altered.

4

Engage your senses. If you need notes, take them by hand and via audio recorder. Then, type them up afterwards. The more ways that you experience something, the better you learn it. Use as many of your senses as you can, perhaps by playing a song as you study.[4]

5

Make connections. You come to every task with tons of prior knowledge; use it. Ask yourself where you have seen this particular type of information before. For example, if you are writing an essay, remember what worked the last time you turned something in.[5]

Connect dates that you are trying to learn with important ones in your memory. It can be your school team winning, your mother's birthday, father's birthday, or any date that is significant to you. You can even break up the dates and remember months based on Zodiac signs.

6

Emphasize recall. Push your mind to remember every detail in the moment and to make the larger connections later as you talk with others about your experience. Watch a lab demonstration and then discuss your observations with your lab partner afterwards. Pay attention to what your partner noticed that you missed and vice versa.[6]

7

Tell a story. Benefit from the power of an interesting tale. There is a reason why creation stories are remembered and passed from generation to generation. They excite while also passing along knowledge.

If you are working with a group, build a story together. For example, if you are studying the history of U.S. presidents, make up a story about each one. Or, better yet, find a real story to remember.

8

Create a mindmap. A mindmap is a visual chart that uses branches and lines to demonstrate the relationship between ideas. These are great for visual learners. Write the main idea in a box in the center of a piece of a paper, and draw branches off the center to identify similar ideas. Keep drawing out branches to new sources of information, and connect ideas with lines or images.[7]

Method2

Challenging Your Mind

1

Be aware of your strengths. Set aside a few minutes every day to think about how you learn. Ask yourself, “Do I understand more with notes or highlighting?” Write down a list of what you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses when learning something new. For example, do you quit easily when you are frustrated?[8]

2

Test yourself. Don’t wait until the formal exam date to see how you perform under pressure. Set up rounds of practice testing well beforehand. Give yourself a prep exam or ask a friend to give you a pop quiz.

If you use flashcards, do not remove cards as you feel comfortable with them. It is best to keep all cards in play and to practice frequently until the date of an exam.[9]

3

Keep it different and new. Brains can get lazy, especially when they are good at certain tasks. Once you reach mastery at a certain task, you need to move on to a new one. For example, if you can easily play poker, push yourself to learn blackjack. You want your mind to be constantly challenged.[10]

4

Seek out difficulty. Set a high bar for new learning tasks. Try to make a difficult recipe or change your own oil. Keep it challenging, but not impossible. This will help you to remember how to learn quickly by improving how your mind performs under stress.[11]

For maximum benefit, try setting aside your technology, such as the spell checker on computers, and going manual for a bit.

Playing fast-paced action video games creates a high level of difficulty that pushes users to adapt to new physical skills. This can result in gamers having an advantage when learning to ride a bike, for example.[12]

5

Check your motivation. Before you start a task, ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” The more passionate that you are about a task, the better. Your excitement will let your brain know that it is time to learn.[13]

6

Stay single-minded. Focus all of your attention on one task before moving on to another. Finish your game of chess before moving on to checkers. If you switch actions mid-stream you lose valuable time. You also have to get your mind 'back in the game' every time you switch jobs.[14]

The exception is if you are completely stuck on a task. If so, leave that math problem behind and work on writing for a bit before coming back to it.

Method3

Preparing Your Mind

1

Practice yoga meditation. Find a quiet place and do a few stretches before a big test. Or, take five deep, calming breaths before walking in to the boardroom. You want to achieve a relaxed and focused mind. This is especially helpful prior to completing a particularly difficult or time-intensive task.

Watching your breathing, along with other yoga techniques, improves both long and short term memory.[15]

2

Stay fit. Try to work out at least 30 minutes three times a week. Strength training, intervals, and cardio all improve brain function.[16] Exercise also boosts productivity and energy levels, leading to more production in the long term.

Students have been shown to work faster on a memory task after exercising. It is believed that these benefits are immediate.[17]

3

Eat right. Get three balanced meals a day, even you are faced with little time. Quality food is fuel for your mind. For example, cinnamon not only improves memory, it reverses the damage associated with memory loss.[18] Likewise, eating dark chocolate leads to a better memory.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (especially omega-3), found in salmon and walnuts, help with memory as well. Forgetfulness is often a sign of omega-3 deficiency.

4

Drink water. Carry a water bottle with you to stay hydrated and refill it often. If you are even a little dehydrated, your mind will move slower. Drinking water well in advance, and immediately before, a test has shown the best results.

Children offered additional drinking water perform better on tests involving memory, such as pairing letters.[19]

5

Get enough sleep. Aim for 8-10 hours of undisturbed sleep a night. Sleep allows your mind and body to rest in preparation for a new day. It also helps to approach a complex task from a new perspective the following day.[20]

Community Q&A

It is possible to enjoy preparing for a test, but you have to be open to creative studying approaches. Make studying into a game, give yourself points or rewards for major concepts that you master. Use notecards to memorize definitions and play a card game to see how many you can get right in one sit down. One of the best ways to have fun is to study with other people, but make sure to stay on task.

The late morning is generally the best time of the day to start working on a difficult project or to begin studying for an exam. Body temperatures have started to rise by this point, but are not high enough to make you sleepy (like in the afternoon with naps). Taking a warm shower right after waking will also get your body awake and ready to focus on the task at hand. That being said, if another time of the day seems to work better for you, pay attention to your body/mind.

Tips

Remind yourself that you can improve and increase speed, it may just take time and practice. Confident learners are more effective learners.

Age is not a disadvantage when it comes to learning. Older people, as well as younger ones, can all improve their minds.[21]

Ask questions. You'll get answers and insight that can help you learn faster.

Warnings

Be cautious when enrolling in a “Brain Training Program.” Many of these sites only result in very minimal mental improvements and require a great deal of time.[22]

It is often believed, especially by students, that it is better to “cram” or study at the last minute for an extended period of time. However, you will receive better results if you study in multiple sessions spaced out over time.[23]

Article Info

This article was co-authored by Natalia S. David, Psy.D.. Dr. David is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She received her PsyD from Alliant International University in 2017.